Tag: hope

Persistent hope amongst the pain

Reflections based on 1 Samuel 1:1–11.

We are going to spend some time in the coming weeks taking a closer look at a few biblical characters to see what we can learn about hope from them, starting with Hannah. 

Hannah was unable to conceive, something that carried such stigma in Old Testament times because it heaped social embarrassment on the family. But, not only that, she was daily taunted by her husband’s other wife. I have not suffered the terrible pain of infertility, but I have close friends who have, and I know the deep-seated anguish that it carries. Indeed, Proverbs 13:12 says ‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick’, and I think that is a very accurate description of the pain and longing that is so keenly felt.

What can be hard to understand here is that it says ‘the Lord had closed her womb’. We are clearly being told that God has a purpose in this pain, although often when we read a passage like this all we can empathise with is the torment. Why would He do that? And why was Hannah so resolute in her actions?

This was a time when Israel had been taken over by the Philistines, and most of the people had turned their backs on God. Hannah’s husband was one of the few that still made the trip to sacrifice at the tabernacle. While there, Hannah would pour out her soul to God, learning to cling to Him through her sorrow and plead her cause to Him. She had no idea that the son God would provide would be the one to lead the Israelites to victory against the Philistines.

For prayer and reflection: Do you have any unfulfilled hopes and dreams that you are struggling with today? Take them to God again and ask Him to help you endure with patient faith as you wait.

An anchor for our souls

Photo by Manuel Keusch from Pexels

After a break over the summer (during which we had an incredible time in the Philippines – I’m sure I’ll be sharing about that sometime!), we are back with our next reflection on hope.

Reflections based on Hebrews 6:13–20.

While it begins by referring to the oath that God made with Abraham back in the Old Testament, I have chosen to concentrate on this passage from Hebrews because of verse 19. It is God’s nature that is unchangeable – as are His promises. So even while we are going through really tough times we can rest assured that His purposes will come to pass. It is that secure knowledge of our future hope that can anchor our lives even when all around us is a raging storm. In fact, the anchor on a boat isn’t really needed in calm seas – how often do we forget about ours when things are going well?

The curtain that is referred to in verse 19 was found across the entrance to the Most Holy Place in the temple. In Old Testament times, it was a place the priest could only enter once a year to atone for the sins of the people. But Jesus’ sacrifice for us means we have constant access to God now, and can draw close to Him during the good and bad times. That knowledge is, again, I believe a firm anchor for our souls. We can spend time dwelling on the fact that we are accepted by God, loved unconditionally and saved for eternity. Hebrews 10 includes a similar message to our reading, going on to say ‘let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings… Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.’ (vv.22–3)

I think there are times when we have to make a conscious effort to hold onto that anchor. One way we can do this is by reflecting on God’s faithful nature. Why not take some time out today to do so?

For prayer and reflection: Have you ever kept a prayer journal? You can record prayer requests, and answered prayers. If you already have one, take a look back and thank God for His faithfulness to you.

Jesus’ prayer for us

Reflections based on John 17:20–25.

Just before He was betrayed by Judas, Jesus spent some time praying for himself, for his disciples but also for future believers – that’s us! In that prayer, our reading today, He prayed that we would be one ‘so that the world may believe’ (v21). His prayer echoes what the previous devotion discussed – about God’s plan being focused on us, that we would share the hope we have found through the way we live and speak.

The Great Commission, some of Jesus’ final words to His disciples, again encourages us to get out and share the Good News: ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’ (Matthew 28:19–20)

Peter, in his first letter, encourages us to ‘always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.’ (1 Peter 3:15)

I think we can clearly see that we have a responsibility to share our hope with those around us – through the way we live and the words we speak.

If what you’ve read today fills you with dread and condemnation rather than joy, please don’t allow it to settle on you. I am not a natural evangelist, and also experience feelings of inadequacy. But even if you are struggling with the most difficult of situations, it can be through those testing times that we reveal the faith we have in our God to those closest to us. It is about learning to cling to that hope when all around us looks hopeless – which we will start looking at more closely next time…

For prayer and reflection: Jesus You prayed that we would be one so that the world would believe. Help me to realise that in You I have everything I need – to live in unity with others and to be a good witness.

Hope through the seasons of life

I am delighted to welcome Jean Gibson to the Unmasked: stories of authenticity blog series. Two of her books have appeared in a new, combined edition and, to celebrate, I asked her to share with us some stories of hope, which also tie in well with the devotional series currently running.

‘Hi Karen, how are things this week?’

She grimaced. ‘Not so good.’

Then her face lit up. ‘But I’ve found a great verse. Whenever I feel down I repeat it to myself. It’s Romans 12:12. “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”’

Karen had terminal cancer. As I looked at her, I thought, ‘Joyful in hope. That’s the title for your chapter in my book. In fact, that’s the title of the whole book.’

I had just completed my first book, Seasons of Womanhood, and was working on the second – another book of stories demonstrating how God brought hope into the lives of women in a variety of challenging situations. Karen’s story was still being lived out in front of me.

The books had come about as I realised how many of the women I knew were seeing God at work in their lives through their everyday circumstances. From the ‘wild child’ teenager caught up in the Northern Ireland troubles to the young singer struggling with childlessness and the mother facing the end of life, women were finding God as the ultimate answer. 

Sometimes that answer was a miraculous change in their circumstances, but sometimes it was a deep awareness of the hope brought by his presence as the difficulties continued. 

The phrase ‘joyful in hope’ reminded me how often the themes of joy and hope are linked throughout the Bible. In Nehemiah 8, the prophet encourages the people to rejoice in the God who had helped them through their time in exile and through the challenges of rebuilding temple and city: ‘The joy of the Lord is your strength.’ (Nehemiah 8:10) The rebuilding project involved everyone, at different stages of life. But they all knew God’s joy upholding them as they hoped in him to work out his promises. 

There are times when life is tough for all of us. But as we focus on God, not our problems, we find his hope and joy building within us. The secret is in living close to our Heavenly Father, in waking each morning with the realisation, ‘This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.’ (Psalm 118:24) Through everything that happens, our relationship with him holds firm.

Zephaniah 3:5 tells us, ‘Every new day he does not fail.’

Whatever season of life we are living in just now, the excitement of springtime, the beauty of summer, the joy of harvest or the challenge of winter, we can rejoice every day in the hope he offers.

Further on in the same chapter of Zephaniah we read, ‘The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.’ (Zephaniah 3:17) When we come to him, he delights in us, he loves us, he even rejoices over us. We cannot understand it but as we trust him, we come to know the truth of it.

Whatever is happening in our lives, God’s faithfulness is constant. And so we can embrace this day – get outside, enjoy the beautiful world God has given us, move our bodies, exercise our creativity, meet friends, make the most of every day he gives us.

If we grasp the opportunities we have today, with God’s help we can have lives that are extraordinary in his strength. We have an all-powerful God. There is no limit to what he can do through us if we are willing to find our hope in him.

One of the stories I told in Seasons of Womanhood was of my dearly loved Auntie Jean. As I grew, Auntie Jean shared with me her love of books, her love for nature and her love for God. In later life, she developed dementia and, although our relationship remained strong, she began to change as her memory deteriorated and her behaviour altered. 

The effects of Alzeimer’s disease became more marked and yet her faith in God remained alive. Although she was often confused about day-to-day events, she could repeat many psalms from memory. Her favourite was Psalm 91: ‘He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”’

In the frightening confusion of memory loss, right to her last day, she still knew the security of God’s love surrounding her. The hope she found in him as a young teenager kept her strong all those years later.

Illness, sin, anxiety, loneliness and many other circumstances can shake our world. But nothing can remove the reality of God’s love and the hope we have in him.

Prayer: Lord you know the challenges I face today. Thank you that your love and power are greater than them all. Help me to be joyful in hope throughout this day.

Having been involved in theological education in Kenya for a number of years, Jean Gibson now focuses her attention on writing and speaking. Her books include Seasons of Womanhood, Joyful in Hope and An Open Door. Jean’s website is http://www.jeangibson.co.uk

Made alive!

Reflections based on Ephesians 2:1–10.

If, like me, you have been a Christian a long time, you can begin to forget what it is you have been saved from – what this glorious hope has actually done for you even while you are still on this earth.

I think it is important, at times, to think about where we could have been without Christ. A look around our society today should make this easier! In just my lifetime so much more crime, depravity, idolatry, greed, poverty etc has sprung up and, but for the grace of God, we could be involved in it ourselves. We could be part of the ‘I’ generation in which anything goes as long as it feels right for ourselves. (And, unfortunately, we can sometimes get sucked into the same kind of thinking.)

While there might seem to be freedom in doing whatever we want it just leads to death – and we can see that all around us too. But thank God, because of His great love, He saved us from that and brought us into a richness of life that no one without Him can fully comprehend (and we will spend eternity discovering more about ourselves).

Remember: our salvation is a gift of grace from our incredible heavenly Father. We are alive in Christ and that beats anything this world can offer!

Optional further reading: Psalm 130:5–8, Romans 15:7–13.

Hope within the body of Christ

Reflections based on Ephesians 4:1–16.

‘There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called’ (v.4)

I find this reminder of our one hope really interesting – and encouraging. It comes under a subheading ‘Unity and maturity in the body of Christ’ and here we are urged to live lives ‘worthy of the calling’ and are given a wonderful picture of how the body of Christ should work. Supporting one another, building each other up and each playing the part that God gave specifically to us…

Paul is obviously very aware of how differences between people can niggle and eventually erode the unity of the Church, so he begins by reminding us that there is only one body, and one Spirit – just as there is but one hope.

As we looked at last week, that hope is open to everyone who chooses to believe. That means our churches are going to be full of people that are very different to us! How do we learn not to just live with them, but appreciate those who may have different viewpoints and giftings to us? Well I think ensuring we keep the ‘main thing the main thing’, as a speaker I heard once said, is a pretty important part of that.

If we keep our focus on the fact that we, totally undeserving sinners, were offered unmerited favour by our God, through Jesus Christ, then we can look at others through the eyes of humility and love. But also with a heart of celebration – God has given each one of us this hope! And exuding that future hope, no matter what our circumstances (and possibly personal differences), is something that only the Church can do.

Let’s ‘grow up’, shape up and show the world that we certainly do have something that unites us all!

For prayer and reflection: Thank you God that you love me – but that you also love the people I find most difficult in church. Help us to learn to celebrate that each of us is different.

Hope for everyone

Reflections based on Colossians 1:13–29.

Just in case you aren’t fully convinced, we are spending one more blog looking at how much Scripture proclaims Jesus to be the hope of the whole world! Here, Paul is telling the Colossians his own reasons for working so hard – because he longs to present people that are fully mature before God.

Again, we are told of the supremacy of Christ, how He has been in existence since the beginning of time and helped the Father create the world and everything in it. We are also told that God could only reconcile us to Himself through his Son’s sacrifice.

Interestingly, Paul also refers to the fact that God has made salvation available to the Gentiles too. Remember, in Acts 10, God showed Peter a vision about this, urging him to eat animals that had previously been thought unclean. When Peter resisted, God said ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean’ (v.15) and immediately God put him in contact with Gentiles, to whom Peter then continually preached salvation.

The hardworking nature of both these men challenge me on days when I’m weary. They both understood that this hope is for everyone, not just to be kept to ourselves.

How often do we judge those around us? We may think that a particular neighbour, colleague or family member would never respond to the hope we have in Jesus – but who are we to judge? Only God can look into the hearts of men and women and truly know where they are at.

Interestingly, we were discussing this very subject in our small group this week, and we admitted that we can have a tendency to decide ourselves who seems ready to hear about the gospel – and who doesn’t. Often it is actually our fear of others rather than God that keeps us silent, but let’s remember that it is through us that: ‘God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory’ (v.27).

Prayer: I’m sorry I sometimes judge those around me as not being worthy of, or interested in, Your love. None of us could earn our salvation – thank you that we don’t have to!

Active hope

Reflections based on 1 Peter 1:13–24.

Last week we looked at the start of 1 Peter 1. The second half of that chapter continues with an exhortation to set our hope on future grace. This is an active thing; a choice. Indeed John Piper has described hope as being ‘faith in the future tense’ (a phrase we will come back to later in our study) and, just like faith needs to be exercised in order to grow, so too, I believe, does hope. So what should that action look like?

In these verses we are being urged to live holy lives rather than giving in to our earthly nature, and to love one another sincerely. If we are honest, there are times when it is far easier to give in to fear, anger, lust, dishonesty etc. What about the harsh words spoken over you? Maybe by someone in your local church? Or the friend or spouse who does something to really hurt you? Or perhaps you suffer daily through sickness. It is hard to feel hopeful in these times – and hard not to respond with our fleshy natures.

We will be taking a closer look at how we cling to hope in the midst of troubles later, but I think one of the keys is contained within this passage. We constantly have to remind ourselves that we were saved by something that will never perish – the precious blood of Jesus. And our truly, magnificent, all-powerful heavenly Father chose to redeem us in this way and so our hope is also in Him.

Whatever today looks like, our tomorrow is certain and sure – glorious intimacy with Him. Remind yourself today that God’s word is ‘living and enduring’ and never returns to Him empty (Isaiah 55:11). God will always have the last word. Hallelujah!

For prayer and reflection: Meditate on the fact that Jesus was chosen before the creation of the world to be your Saviour. How you can remind yourself of that amazing hope throughout today?

Jesus, the hope of the world

Reflections based on 1 Peter 1:1–9.

I simply had to start our study focusing on the person of Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate hope for the whole world. As Christians we believe that Jesus’ death and resurrection has provided the way for people to be saved.

This passage has such a richness to it, reminding us that it is through God’s mercy towards us that we have this hope at all, and through Jesus’ perseverance and willingness to die a truly horrific death. We also have an amazing promise – we can now partake in the same inheritance as Jesus and it is being kept for us until we get to heaven!

The passage doesn’t shy away from explaining that we will face struggles in this world. Indeed the people Peter was writing to in this letter were ‘scattered throughout the provinces’ (v1) and some of that was no doubt due to persecution. But trials while on this earth do not disqualify us from our inheritance, which is an important truth to cling on to when we are feeling close to despair. In fact, here we learn that often they prove the genuineness of our faith.

Verse 8 is one I think we should all keep close to us, as it is full of comfort and hope. We believe even though we do not see, and that gives us a glorious joy that can only be found through our Saviour. What a hope we have! It is not based on our own strength, deeds, health or bank balance –but on Him alone. There is nothing we need to do to earn it, as it is a gift.

Let us never take hope for granted.

For prayer and reflection: Thank you for the hope that I have in Jesus Christ. It blows my mind that I am a joint heir with Him. Help me to live in the light of that truth, whatever I go through today. Amen.

My prayer for you

Reflections based on Ephesians 1:17–20.

Having finished our study on holiness last week, I am turning to look at hope next. Scripture is full of verses about hope, some of which I want to unpack with you. And yet, at the very start of our time together, I want to share with you my own hopes and prayers for this study.

I was drawn to the subject of hope after my husband led his first study at the ‘pastors’ life group’ he attends. He had just taken over leading the church, and with the added responsibilities and joys come added pressures and difficulties. And yet, during that study, he challenged other pastors from nearby churches to look afresh at biblical hope, and the fact that it is rooted in the truths about God. He then got them to look at their own hopes for the coming year, and the things perhaps they were beginning to lose hope for and challenged them to look at them afresh alongside relevant Scripture.

When I first looked at his notes I too was challenged and decided to explore this whole subject further. This passage from Ephesians is my prayer for you. That as we look at various verses on hope together God will reveal Himself to you once again and your heart will be refreshed and revitalised by the lifegiving knowledge that we have a hope beyond all earthly hopes, which God our Father Himself has called us to.

That hope is accompanied by an inheritance – and the same amazing power that raised Jesus from the dead. Wow. We have a lot to be grateful for don’t we?!

For prayer and reflection: At the start of this new study Lord I do pray that you will open the eyes of my heart to a fresh revelation of the hope that you have called me to.